First lady Melania Trump drew the widespread praise of observers around the world last week when she took a spin on the dance floor with her husband in a cream off-the-shoulder gown at the inaugural balls. The former model and businesswoman was very involved in her gown’s creation — earning kudos from the designer.
French designer Hervé Pierre co-created the gown with the first lady — and even though designers like Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford have publicly said they refused to work with her, Pierre jumped at the opportunity and said he was incredibly grateful. It hasn’t hurt his career, either.
“A woman will put you back on track and say, ‘I cannot reach my fork,'” said Pierre.
“I had no idea when I made the dress what the consequences would be,” Pierre told Bazaar.com about the wave of attention post-inauguration. “Immediately my phone went completely ballistic with interview requests; I had investors and bankers in Dubai calling, people opened fake Instagram accounts under my name. Even Target called to say, ‘We are so excited you are doing a line for us.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I had no idea I was doing one.’ The attention is something I’m not used to.”
Although Melania Trump originally connected with Pierre to be her stylist for the inaugural balls, the first lady then asked the designer to create the dress with her help after seeing some of his sketches, reported Bazaar.com.
Pierre said that Melania Trump, like most women, is a realist when it comes to fashion. “Hervé, I love you, but I cannot move my arm to hold my husband’s arm when we dance,” she told the designer, according to his recollection.
Pierre responded well to this commonsense guidance. “As a man designing for a woman, you put into the clothing your ideals, what you idolize, but a woman will put you back on track and say, ‘I cannot reach my fork,'” he told Bazaar.com.
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Pierre has nothing but praise for the first lady. “She knows fashion — she was a model and has worked in a design studio — so she knows about construction. When I brought her fabric swatches, she immediately picked the heaviest, most beautiful six-ply silk from Italy. She knows about fabrics. It was a very organic conversation, because we have the same vocabulary.”
Pierre feels her design sense may also suggest what the nation can expect from her as first lady.
“There is an economy of the drawing, and that’s who she is. Her next four years as first lady are going to be, like this gown, straight to the point, perhaps with a single measured detail,” he said, referring to the red band tied around the waist of the inaugural ball gown. “I also didn’t want to refer to the past, to any period,” Pierre added. “I believe it was something modern, which was not done before — thank God. The lines are as sleek as a paper cut; the curves of the skirt are fluid, yet the overall shape is sharp and intense. For me it reflects her personality.”
Fashion designers and comics need to take a hard look at their behavior.
Multiple fashion designers have rudely scoffed at the first lady, announcing to the world they would not work with her. Critics and blowhards have been even crueler to the Trumps’ son Barron, who is 10 years old. When Sean Hannity of Fox News interviewed the president this week, he asked him about his family.
“What a wonderful, smart, charming kid,” said Hannity of Barron Trump. “And then they attack him — that’s got to hurt you and Melania.”
The president responded, “Well, ‘Saturday Night Live’ — a person from ‘Saturday Night Live’ was terrible. It’s a failing show. It’s not funny. Alec Baldwin’s a disaster. He’s terrible on the show and by the way, I don’t mind some humor but it’s terrible. But for them to attack — for NBC to attack my 10-year-old son …”
“Horrible,” said Hannity.
The president agreed. “It’s a disgrace.”
Both Trumps are fighting back against liberal smears. On Friday, Melania Trump prevailed in the initial round of a $150 million dollar lawsuit she filed against a Maryland blogger who wrote last summer that the first lady once worked as a “high-end escort.” The judge in the Montgomery County Circuit Court dismissed claims by blogger Wesley Tarpley’s legal team that the first lady had failed to reach the “actual malice” standard needed to pursue the case, Politico reported. Mrs. Trump is also pursuing a similar case against Britain’s Daily Mail.
Related: Chelsea Handler Condones Bullying of Barron Trump
Fashion designers, comedians, pundits and hysterical liberals in general need to take a step back and take a hard look at their behavior — petty and childish in the face of Donald Trump’s presidential victory. As for Pierre? He became a United States citizen in August, Bazaar.com reported.
This article has been updated to reflect the latest information.
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